PixlBit

How I view the science vs religion "debate," in one pretty simple statement:

"Science is how God does things."

Thanks man!  I'm making some progress, little things here and there.  But hopefully getting back into writing helps that healing process along wherever and however possible.

I don't know why I've been so hesitant to talk to the campus counselors.  But I am sort of stubborn, and I have this dumb tendency of telling myself I can fix these problems alone.  Oh well. :|

Yeah...I think one of the biggest obstacles I've faced this semester is just a lack of motivation for anything.  I've had some fears and doubts about the future on the whole, and that's been a huge hurdle for me to try and overcome.  Some days it's better, some day I regress pretty hard.  I have a few people I talk to personally about it, but as far as putting up those feelings on the web, I think this is about as far as I'll go, but it still felt pretty good to just get this off my chest; really, it was a kind of cathartic expression.

Much appreciated!  By all means, though, feel free to judge my writing.  Nobody becomes a better writer by being told that anything/everything they put out is great!

As for judging my personal life, well, I'll probably keep that off of the site as much as possible.

Indeed, and it'll definitely be something much cooler (and more thoughtful) than another blog with the premise of "YA KNOW, BEING A MALE GAMER IS PRETTY HARD TOO.  DID YOU FEMINAZIS EVER CONSIDER THAT?!?!?!"

Horror games never depressed me!  However, they did scare me and definitely ended up frustrating me at some points.

The Army has supported two games I know of off the top of my head: America's Army, a shooter series, and Full Spectrum Warrior, a tactical game.

Those are the closest things to propaganda, because they have an actual "blessing" from the military.  CoD and some other shooters, not so much.  If you look at some of that series' plots (THE GENERAL IS THE BAD GUY, DUN DUN), it'd be terrible propaganda: the Army needs men, but doesn't want soldiers who either refuse or are too paranoid to take orders.

Different times, different wars, really.  I know that the 1980s was a "healing time" in this country in regards to how we looked at Vietnam and the men who fought it, and I think ever since then we as a society have come to hold a special reverence for our uniformed men and women.  I know I do.  Now, if our society is overdoing it, or being respectful to a fault...well, it can be hard to argue otherwise.

It's a pretty expansive topic on the whole.

Since they first hit the market, most video games have been competitive in nature rather than creative or constructive.  Pong and Desert Combat Bro Shooter Du Jour are far apart on the gaming's family tree, but both are still Player 1 vs Player 2 types of games.  The only things that have changed (other than the obvious leaps in technology between their respective creations) are game genres and how the players' avatars appear.

What I think is most interesting about this discussion is how combat games - first-person shooters being the most representative of the genre - are most popular with Americans.  Japan doesn't really make many shooters or combat games, with the exceptions of light gun games and Konami's Metal Gear Solid series, the latter of which is perhaps more popular for its stories, characters, and stealth gameplay than for its gritty depiction of war.  But American shooters like CoD don't really gain a lot of ground there, and I'm willing to bet not in many other countries/regions, either.

(As an interesting counter-example: consider the Czech-made Arma series, which has a rather large international following and fan community.  Unlike its twitch-style brethern, this franchise relies more heavily on realistic tactics and teamwork.)

And of course, consider that there's also a big cultural component at work here, as well.  I highly recommend this article from the New York Times about the militarization of American society.  The author mentions how popular military FPS games have become, and I feel it supplements Game Informer's OP-ED very well.  We've been at war for over a decade now and jingoism, wartime uncertainty, and troop-worshiping (if not outright fetishization of the military) have effected so much of our day-to-day culture.  It's art imitating life--I just hope this trend ends as soon as the wars themselves do.